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Gail Kirby
I am Gail Kirby and I share my life with my husband of 31 years, Jack and my three grown children, and three grandchildren. My youngest son, Daniel, is 25
years old, has an Associ...ver maisI am Gail Kirby and I share my life with my husband of 31 years, Jack and my three grown children, and three grandchildren. My youngest son, Daniel, is 25
years old, has an Associate’s degree in Graphic Design. He is pursuing a career as a firefighter. My daughter, Destiny is 28 years old and has a Bachelor's
degree in Healthcare Administration. My oldest son, Dusty is medically retired from the United States Navy after being critically injured in Iraq on
Christmas Day 2006.
The physical injuries that he sustained because of the armor-piercing bullet that travelled through his face on that day were critical, but can never
equate to the fear and life changing events that manifested after he returned home. My son suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and as a
family, we have struggled with the reasons that he needs on a daily basis to want to live.
Our story is the story of a family that made a sacrifice for a country that we love and supported without question. There are moments in our lives now that
we are filled, not with regret for our sacrifice, but questions. We struggled with questions about how to help him. We struggled even more with questions
on how to help us, the family that loved him so much and wanted nothing more than for him to be able to celebrate his homecoming with us, his family.
The stress of the deployments and having a loved one so far away, facing imminent danger on a daily basis, on our behalf is life changing. Receiving the
call that the bullet that had been fired from the enemy on that day had your loved one's name on it and it hit its target is mind numbing. The events that
follow are debilitating.
PTSD claims the life of a veteran every 65 minutes, every single day at the rate of 22 veteran suicides every day. These young men and women have made the
sacrifice to leave their families and their homes and face the enemy in our stead. They have seen things that we can never understand; they have
experienced things that we can never conceive. It is because of the sacrifice of my son and so many others just like him that I am able to enjoy the
freedoms of living in the greatest country in the world. I have shared our story to raise awareness of this crisis and gain support in helping this
generation of warriors know how grateful we are as a nation for the sacrifice that made on our behalf.ver menos